Judging by a report on TechCrunch reporting on a new (conspiracy?) theory why MegaUpload was really shut down, it appears that MegaUpload was on the verge of launching a new business model for artists, which would have blasted the likes of the RIAA and the big music companies they represent into irrelevance. That of course, they could not allow. The 'piracy' argument was a smokescreen.

MegaUpload, founded by Kim Dotcom, was about to launch a new music store and DIY distribution service called Megabox, which would have completely disrupted the established music industry. MegaUpload was in a legal war with the RIAA & MPAA, with MegaUpload having just sued Universal Music Group for wrongly blocking their recent star-studded YouTube campaign and things were getting very ugly indeed. However, it looks like the quiet launch of Megabox would have been a step too far, so they tore MegaUpload apart. TechCrunch explains how Megabox would have worked:

"Dotcom described Megabox as Megaupload’s iTunes competitor, which would even eventually offer free premium movies via Megamovie, a site set to launch in 2012. This service would take Megaupload from being just a digital locker site to a full-fledged player in the digital content game.

The kicker was Megabox would cater to unsigned artists and allow anyone to sell their creations while allowing the artist to retain 90% of the earnings. Or, artists could even giveaway their songs and would be paid through a service called Megakey. “Yes that’s right, we will pay artists even for free downloads. The Megakey business model has been tested with over a million users and it works,” Kim Dotcom told TorrentFreak in December. Megabox was planning on bypassing the labels, RIAA, and the entire music establishment."

MegaUpload was not the first site to try this business model, one far more generous to the artists that actually produce this precious content than the established order that claims to be protecting them. However, they were huge, being the 13th most visited site on the internet, taking 4% of worldwide internet traffic and had a massive 180 million registered users with over 50 million visiting the site daily. Hence they were likely to have pulled it off. Bad news for the all-powerful established music businesses and something they couldn't let happen. Right now, Kim Dotcom and several other executives from the now defunct site and brand are awaiting trial on several charges, including various counts of piracy, racketeering and money laundering. TechCrunch described MegaUpload's demise beautifully:

"It seems they flew too close to the sun. High on success and a half a world away in New Zealand and Hong Kong, they attempted to take on the music industry head-on. Now they’re in jail."

Nevermind the e-mails between the employees bragging about how they deliver pirated goods via their service. Or the fact they disabled the "abuse" button that would only remove a single link to a pirated file not the pirated file itself. Naaaaaa. These guys were angles with 18 cars and licenses plates that said "EVIL," "MAFIA" and "GUILTY." I'm sure the racketeering charge is made up too.

Its wasn't a US business, so the US has no jurisdiction there, it should have been handled by the local authorities, and just shows how the US and their power is more focused on media rights than terrorists and real threats to the public. It makes me feel safe knowing they are protecting my music from me and my ability to use it how I see fit.

Its wasn't a US business, so the US has no jurisdiction there, it should have been handled by the local authorities, and just shows how the US and their power is more focused on media rights than terrorists and real threats to the public. It makes me feel safe knowing they are protecting my music from me and my ability to use it how I see fit.

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You can't blame the US. Those assholes are in another country. Their own government is handing them over. So the RIAA bought off the entire New Zealand government too? Or maybe......just maybe.......these guys are guilty of something?!

Its wasn't a US business, so the US has no jurisdiction there, it should have been handled by the local authorities, and just shows how the US and their power is more focused on media rights than terrorists and real threats to the public. It makes me feel safe knowing they are protecting my music from me and my ability to use it how I see fit.

You can't blame the US. Those assholes are in another country. Their own government is handing them over. So the RIAA bought off the entire New Zealand government too? Or maybe......just maybe.......these guys are guilty of something?!

The irony is, if convicted, they'll be sentenced significantly heavier than the folks over at Goldman Sachs and the revered Bernanke who played as big of roles as Bush in destroying America. That's the U.S. of A for y'all folks!

You can't blame the US. Those assholes are in another country. Their own government is handing them over. So the RIAA bought off the entire New Zealand government too? Or maybe......just maybe.......these guys are guilty of something?!

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Even if they are, you know as well as I do, that there DEFINITELY was money changing hands. Whether in the literal or the figurative sense, somebody in those governments got something from someone to hand them over.
And here's the thing that should make you question it, why would those countries hand those people over to the US when they supposedly broke laws in THOSE countries.
It just makes no sense.

That's one sad news for humanity. MegaUpload should file a lawsuit for $10billion against whoever shut this service down. Come on, we all know how that lobbyist do their business : they throw absurd allegations in the media, like intention to murder or sexual abuse. Maybe that dude Kim is eating children too. Heinrich Heine once wrote "That was but a prelude; where they burn books, they will ultimately burn people also."

doesn't surprise me...hell in a small town nearby you're not allowed to own any chickens b/c there's a major chicken company there.

I think the whole shutting down MegaUpload due to "piracy" is bullshit. I can't remember how many times i've tried to download an image of a disc (due to mine being too scratched up, etc) and got a message along the lines of "the content has been deleted due to a copyright infringement". An example being when I wanted to download Jane's Fighters Anthology because disc two has a large crack going from the center to the outer edge of the disc.

well if there is actually any truth to this, the artists involved should already be going amok over this (in a metaphorical, online protest publishing way), shouldn't they?
and not just a minor amount of indies, because it just sounds too good to be true...it's the business model so many people, that are opposing copyright legislation ( including myself), are preaching for how long now?
and i guess there should be at least some preliminary contracts that could be published to prove that...
i dunno, as long as there is nothing out in that regard, i'd say it's just people spinning conspiracy theories to make mr dotcom (how i hate that name...his name is kim schmitz. it just proves how much that guy is craving for recognition and kinda shows his true motives) look like some kind of big time benefactor who didn't just want to make money with doing just a little actual work...

that said, i don't deny the media industry hasn't an agenda that would support this behaviour, but i'll put it into internetforum speech:
"screenshot, or it didn't happen!"

i truly hope someday, someone will actually come up with the proposed business model and has lots of success with it, because that would be a win-win situation for everyone (yes, even the media industry) in the long run...